Category Archives: Poetry

Poetry Submissions

Fluid by Anthony J. Machicote

Fluid by Anthony J. Machicote
383044
WRC
PO Box 220
Winnebago, WI 54985

How you and love songs
Collide like waves
Crashing unto white
Beach sands, applauding
The dedication of your
Fluid love joyously.
How this universe
Shares with us
A secret something
We can’t hold
But can’t lose either—
Like a smile
We send back
And forth to each other
On slow strolls down
Memory lane, our
Favorite place to haunt
And listen to the crash of our hearts like waves,
Applauding our love,
So fluid, so fresh.

Pork and Beans by Robert C. Fuentes

Pork and Beans by Robert c. Fuentes
C88749
P.O. Box 7500
Crescent City, CA 95531

They listened to evening records
Over bowls of pork and beans,
Plumping up their hearts,
Although times were very lean.
Nothing seemed to matter to them
As the songs scattered along.
Nothing seemed to bother them,
Although life appeared so wrong;
They dined on pork and beans
And snacked on condiments,
Living the life of royal hearts
Without a cent to pay the rent.

Sideways by Jonathan C. Holeman

Sideways by Jonathan C. Holeman
AI 7466
CCI 4A7 108
PO Box 1902
Tehachapi, CA 93581

She walks sideways sometimes,
Usually when she drinks,
But not always.
Sometimes it’s pills,
It used to be needles,
But now she says she’s sober.
Before that was a glass pipe
tin foil, pot pipe, cigarette, and beer.
I fear to understand why
Because I already know
Broken heart disappointments
That built up in a landslide
Always tearing her down,
And even worse when she was young.

Sometimes I only watch her
Other times I help her to the door;
Place a blanket on her shoulders
As she falls upon the floor.
She won’t remember me tomorrow;
She almost never does.

A Lonely Prison Man by Dale Sloss

ID #550368
Michael Unit
2664 FM 2054
Tennessee Colony, TX, 75886

To a prisoner in these walls so grey,
With a trace of light,
Today’s the same as yesterday,
And both as dark as night.

Tomorrow? Well, I guess it’ll be about the same
As all the rest have been.
I’ll get up, exist another day,
Then go to sleep again.

Oh, I know they say we have no feelings,
That we can’t hurt or laugh of cry,
But you could flood a mighty river
With the tears that have filled these eyes.

I’ve seen one man take his own life,
One more lay down and die;
I guess they just couldn’t stand
The loneliness inside.

I thank the Lord in Heaven
For the strength to carry on
For the woman who waits faithfully
And spends lonely nights at home.

For the child who sits weeping,
With a picture in her hand,
It’s a picture of her Daddy,
A lonely prison man.

Oh, I don’t want your pity,
For I’m the one to blame,
But when once again I walk among you,
I’ll not hide my face in shame.

Oh, you may think we’re different,
That you’re not the same as I,
But someday you’ll find the trip’s the same,
It’s just a different train we ride.

I’ve never turned away a hungry man,
Or refused a needy one a ride.
I loved the kids who lived next door,
And hurt when people cried.

Oh, you might think I’m bitter,
But that’s not really the case.
I have no hate for anyone,
I see some good in every face.

No, I don’t claim to be a good man,
But there is some love inside.
And you might recall, as well for you,
For me, Christ Jesus died.

Frozen Sunrise- Bryan Kim

Frozen Sunrise
By Bryan Kim #315649

WSP-WC-E-128
1313 N 13 Ave.
Walla Walla, WA 99362

My breath clouds the chilly winter air,
In the indigo world that exists in that precious
Moment before the sun breaks the horizon.

I can feel the icy tentacles of cold invading my
Toes and fingers.
A silver of ocher sunlight stains the icicles the
Razor wire red,
A macabre prophecy for any foolish enough to approach.

The clouds and snow drifters dress themselves in
Oranges , violets, and greens,
In preparation of the storm that is certain to come before nightfall.
Eventually that great sphere of flame clears the horizons
Forcing me to turn from the sight.

The blue after-images burned into my retina
Are the only things not blurred by my tears.
I try to blink them away and find the crystals frozen to my eyelashes.
Plucking them away with numb fingers brings pain
That clears my head.

I resume walking the quarter mile circle,
The perimeter of my cage with one last glance at
The now empty horizon.

In Memoriam by J.S. Slaymaker

ID#634548
Hughes Unit
Route 2, P.O. Box 4400
Gatesville, TX, 76507

Between the kisses and I love yous
Were the other women, the dope, and the booze.
Our time together, though cherished, felt stolen,
Leaving our hearts bruised, battered, and swollen.
Forever I squandered our love on a lie,
And ask again, ask again, ask again why.

Swimming- Kristopher Smith

Swimming

By Kristopher Smith #01703391

Connolly Unit

889 FM 632

Kenedy, TX, 78119

 

 

When my soul slips in sorrow

And regret pulls me down into the depths of darkness

I must either tread water

Or try to make it to the distant shore.

In the worst of times, I can’t believe

That the shore even exists and the fantasy falls flat.

In the best of times, I can focus

On one stroke at a time, making headway everyday.

The present moment is where I sink or swim.

Only now can the decision be made.

Never sure of direction or destination;

Always just motion, motion, motion.

Drowning is not an option.

Sometimes forward, sometimes backward,

But never staying still.

Forever just the moment, the decision, and the motion.

Now, I choose to swim.